Nordique Nation and PR

It's not news here in Winnipeg that National Hockey League franchises in the Southern U.S. are struggling. The Phoenix Coyotes have been embroiled in an ownership search for over a year (which may be coming to an end, as someone seems to be willing to lose money hand over fist in the desert). The Atlanta Thrashers owners want to sell and are currently conducting legal action among each other. The Columbus Blue Jackets and Nashville Predators have trouble drawing crowds and establishing a fan base. Even the New York Islanders, four-time Stanley Cup champion, are struggling to draw crowds to their derelict arena on Long Island.

These struggles have been fodder for hockey fans and the media in two Canadian cities who were burned in the past by the NHL, Winnipeg and Quebec City. Both cities want their teams back. Manitoba Moose owner, Mark Chipman made a serious offer for the Coyotes, while Quebec City has plans to build a new arena to attract an NHL team.

Unfortunately, while relocation to these two cities might be a long term possibility for NHL, nothing is likely to happen in the short term. ESPN's Scott Burnside explains this in a recent column. The NHL seems more committed than ever to making a go of hockey in the Southern U.S.

This hasn't deterred a group of Nordiques fans from using a publicity stunt to make their point. Roughly 1000 fans are expected to bus down to Long Island and hold a rally at an upcoming Islanders-Thrashers game.

Will this change anyone in the NHL's head office mind? Probably not. But it's an interesting use of a pseudo event to gain publicity. I don't think I've ever heard of people from a city that wants a team rallying in a city of the team they want. It's pretty much unprecedented.



I kind of wish someone in Winnipeg had thought of this idea first. Okay, who's down for a trip to a Columbus-Nashville game?

FIFA's New Frontiers

An African nation with one of the world's highest crime rates. A nation with one of the world's fastest growing economies and a growing war between the police and heavily armed gangs. The world's largest nation, with a long history of human rights violations and government corruption. A tiny, oil rich emirate with no soccer tradition. FIFA has set an unexplored course for the World Cup, beginning this year in South Africa.

FIFA has been keen with expanding its brand into parts of the world that have never hosted the World Cup or that are seen as untapped sources of revenue. This year's South Africa World Cup was a great success for FIFA in tapping into the massive African soccer market. The next World Cup marks the return of soccer's greatest tournament to its spiritual homeland, Brazil, for the first time in almost 65 years. Russia was an obvious choice for 2018, as the World Cup has never been hosted in Eastern Europe before. The area has been a soccer hotbed for decades and the political climate finally favoured a move by FIFA into the area. The selection of Qatar in 2022, over the United States, is the most curious of FIFA's latest choices.

Qatar - The not-so obvious choice

On Thursday, FIFA selected the tiny emirate Qatar, as the host of the 2022 World Cup. Qatar bested the United States, Australia, Japan, and South Korea. There have already been accusations that Qatar had bribed the selection committee, but I'll avoid commenting on this, as that's a whole other story in itself.

Qatar is a small Persian Gulf emirate with a population of roughly 1.7 million. It's only about 11,000 square kilometres in size, which was a selling point for transportation issues. The country is one of the wealthiest in the world, thanks to its massive oil resources, with a per capita income of $84,000.

The nation has little soccer tradition. The national team has never qualified for the World Cup. It highest world ranking was number 51 (in 1993), but it has since dropped off to 113, in 2010. People were complaining that South Africa didn't belong in the World Cup, I can't imagine how Qatar will fair in tournament action.

Air Conditioning the Desert

The most interesting part about the selection of Qatar is that the World Cup is always held during July. In July, the average temperature in Qatar ranges from 29 to 44 degrees Celsius. That's not exactly conducive for playing soccer. The Qatar bid committee countered that they would be building all their new stadiums (another issue with the selection is the lack of existing infrastructure) with air conditioning systems. This undertaking will be immense both technologically and financially. Fast Company Design has an interesting blog post about the stadiums and the almost unrealistic design process for them.

Twenty-twenty-two is a long way down the road, so maybe technology will be developed to make this process feasible. Qatar definitely has the money to throw at it. Maybe it will be the most successful World Cup yet, but right now its looking like FIFA got a little greedy.

Book Review: Player One

Writers throughout history have foreseen the apocalypse in many forms. The coming of the Four Horseman was a popular image during the Middle Ages. During the Cold War, nuclear annihilation was the popular vision of the end of humanity. In more recent times, hordes of zombies have signalled the end of the world in both print and film. Douglas Coupland has a much more pragmatic idea of how the apocalypse will descend on Earth. In Player One: What Is to Become of Us, Coupland portrays the world coming to an end when the world hits a state of “peak oil”. The price of oil rises to $250 per barrel and all hell brakes loose.

Coupland's alternative take on the apocalypse should not come as a surprise to anyone familiar with his work. The author, who the London Daily Telegraph described as “one of the greatest satirists of consumerism”, has made a career breaking the literary mold. He's been a trendsetter of post-modern literature since his first novel, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture was published in 1991. That novel coined the terms “McJob” and “Generation X”, implanting both in the popular culture lexicon. Coupland's 2006 novel, Jpod, deconstructed the lives of adults living in the modern, digital culture. Player One continues Coupland's constant examination of culture, with an exploration of human identity and religion thrown in for good measure.

The novel was written as the 2010 submission for the prestigious Massey Lecture Series. In the past, such dignitaries as Martin Luther King Jr., Noam Chomsky, and Michael Ignatieff have been Massey Lecturers. Coupland presented Player One as five one-hour lectures on CBC Radio, earlier this November. The novel was also on the long list for the prestigious ScotiaBank Giller Prize.

Player One begins in a very banal manner. Four strangers converge on a dingy, second-rate hotel bar, on the outskirts of a Toronto airport. There's Rick, a recovering alcoholic working as a bartender. Rick has lost everything in his life thanks to his addiction and is waiting for a visitor to come and bring him all the spiritual enlightenment that $8,500 will buy. Karen, a single mother from Winnipeg, has flown all the way to Toronto to meet a man she met in an online “Peak Oil” chat room. Luke has made his way to Toronto from a small town in Northern Ontario. A preacher who has lost his faith, Luke is on the run with $20,000 he stole from his church's renovation fund. The fourth stranger is Rachel, a beautiful blond teenager with a flaw that prevents her from being human. She has come to the bar in an attempt to find a man for reproduction, in order to show her father that she is not an uncaring robot. All four of these characters come to this bland, poorly lit lounge.

Watching over this motley group is the mysterious Player One, a disembodied voice that provides a fifth perspective on the events of the novel. Player One is Rachel's online alter-ego, her avatar from the online simulation Second Life. This alter-ego represents Rachel, free of the limitations of the conditions of her autism. Player One's voice acts as Rachel's second viewpoint on the events that are taking place in the lounge.

When the price of oil hits $250 per barrel, chaos envelops the world outside the bar and slowly the realization that the world is coming to an end sinks into the four desperate souls on the inside. As madness and death invade the bar, in both human and chemical form, Rick, Karen, Luke, and Rachel are left to contemplate the meaning of life and their place in the world. They question their religion, if there is an afterlife, and the basic tenets of society, as the world comes crashing down around them.

The problem with Player One is that the discussions on deep emotional and human issues that take place between the characters comes off as extremely hollow. Their conversations and thoughts do not seem believable in the context of their characters, but are more obviously the transparent thought process of the author. A prime example is Luke's thoughts about where society has evolved to and where it has to go from there. “What are we evolving toward? Do we just go along, day by day, drinking coffee, building golf courses, making photocopies, and having wars until we all mutate and turn into a new species? How long are we supposed to keep on doing all this stuff we do?”

Coupland has been railing against the modern consumer society in the majority of his novels, beginning with Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. By this point it has become sort of cliched. Reading this passage, it is tough to see these thoughts as being those of the character and not the rantings of an author who has been hammering home the same point for almost 20 years.

Another issue that Coupland cannot overcome is his use of the titular character. Player One is intended to give an objective view of the events that are shaping the novel, but instead it just reiterates what the other characters are thinking and doing. It's a totally unecessary plot device that does not further the plot and adds little to the theme of the story. Coupland makes use of Player One in the denouement of the story, after things go to hell in the bar, just like they have in the outside world. His use of the Player One to tie up the stories loose end and provide a “happy ending” to the story seems contrived and pointless.

Coupland closes up Player One with a glossary of terms that will be used in the post-apocalyptic world. While the “Future Legend” is interesting and quite humourous, it lacks connection with the rest of the story. It almost seems like Coupland had written this glossary and then decided, “Hey, I've got this interesting piece of writing, why don't I write a novel to go along with it?”

Player One: What Is to Become of Us will interest anyone who is familiar with Coupland's previous efforts. For those who have never picked up one of his novels before, start with Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. You'll be much more satisfied with your decision.

I got edited

As some of you may already be aware of, my luscious mustache recently graced the front cover of The Projector. The photo, a head shot cut off just above the nose, complemented the headline, "Movember: Recapping the month of the furry upper lip".

The interesting part of the cover photo is that the Projector staff decided to edit out part of my facial hair growth. Besides a mustache, I had also grown a "soul patch" or "flavour saver" underneath my bottom lip. This piece of facial hair had been edited out, with the help of Photoshop.

When asked about it, a representative of The Projector said that they had chosen to edit it out because they were afraid it might be mistaken for a goatee. I guess I can understand where they were coming from. I just found it interesting that my likeness had been edited.

Photoshop Help

Just a quick blog post today, as I'm in the process of trying to reach the surface from under a wave of homework. It's a little bit off topic from what I usually blog about, but my mind is feeling a little bit off topic as well.

I recently (finally) got myself a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 5 and I'm still in the process of familiarizing myself with the new features of the different programs. There are some really cool ones associated with the new version of Photoshop. That coolest one is the Content Aware function. If you want to remove someone or something from an image, all you have to do is select the object with the quick selection tool, select edit < fill < content aware and boom the object is gone and the background has been filled in to look like the existing background. It's not 100 per cent perfect, but it works pretty well. No more extensive clone stamp marathons are necessary anymore.

I found a couple of interesting Photoshop CS5 tutorials and figured I would share them.

Editing a Martyr (or a Madman)

Louis Riel, patriot or traitor? This has been a question that has been asked since he was hanged 125 years ago. The topic of pardoning Riel comes up from time to time and it being the 125th anniversary of his hanging, it's news again.

There's an interesting editorial piece in yesterday's Globe and Mail by the great-grand niece of Riel. She argues that Riel should not be pardoned and that his hanging and an subsequent talk of pardoning were all for political purposes. Her belief is that pardons imply "guilt, mercy, and forgiveness" and that they are usually for political purposes.

The most interesting aspect of this editorial is how the author discusses how Riel has become an "adaptable martyr - martyr, rebel, mystic, poet, statesman, madman, traitor". She talks about how the Riel legend has been reshaped throughout time and often for political purposes. In general terms, Riel has gone from a traitor to Canada all the way to someone who many believe was one of the fathers of Confederation.

His legend is in a constant state of edit in the minds of Canadians. Quebecois have always looked to him as a martyr and the embodiment of the death of a French Western Canada. In Ontario, many still believe him to be a traitor. In Manitoba, he has been accepted as the province's founding father and a Metis icon. Throughout Canada, people have made numerous attempts to clear his name.

When each new round of Canadian history books come out, Riel's legend often sees a thorough editing. From a "traitor" and a "madman" to a "father of Confederation", history and changing opinion can edit a legend permanently.

Movember

November is no longer November.

Thanks to an idea dreamed up in Australia seven years ago, November has been re-christened as Movember.

Back in 2003, a group of men in Melbourne, Australia decided that they wanted to raise awareness of men's health issues. They decided to take the mustache, a symbol of masculinity, and use it bring awareness to the issue of prostate cancer. From this small group of guys, the idea spread like wildfire. One year later,432 "Mo Bros" raised over $55,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.

Over the next few years, the idea spread around the world, to Canada, the US, the UK, Ireland, Spain, South Africa, and the Netherlands. In 2009, over 255,000 men around the world participated in Movember and raised over $47 million. In Canada alone, 35,000 participants raised $7.8 million.

It's amazing how fast the concept and level of donations has spread. The Movember Foundation has done a great job at spreading its message and using public relations to further a great cause. They've used both traditional and social media to spread the idea. They have corporate sponsors, like Canadian Club, Schick, and Mercedes Benz on board. But they've effectively used word of mouth to spread the concept. A few years back, when Movember was getting off the ground in Canada, anyone with a mustache would be asked why they were growing one. That person would be likely to give a rundown about what Movember is and how it was raising awareness for prostate cancer. This word of mouth has spread like wildfire over the last few years and so has awareness of the dangers of prostate cancer.

In 2010, Movember is huge. Celebrities, athletes, and just regular people are rocking 'staches and its all for a good cause. So forget about November, it doesn't exist anymore. Make a donation to Prostate Cancer Canada. Support the 'stache. Support Movember.

The cutting room floor

Here's the latest promo for the Media Production students' denim social. Editing was essential to the making of this video. Of over an hour of footage, with tons of jokes about nuns, double rainbows, nerds, etc., Jeremy Williams and Caitlin MacGregor distilled it all down to a hilarious minute of promotional video.

It got me thinking about how much editing goes into make videos and film. Having made a few short videos for class, I know the precision and time that needs to be put into editing a video. For a feature length film, the editing process goes on for months upon months. Even years, in the case of a movie like Apocalypse Now.

There's a great film about Hollywood movie editing and the history of this art called The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing. It features interviews with directors like Steven Speilberg, Quentin Tarantino, and Martin Scorsese and some of the most successful Hollywood editors. It's definitely worth renting at the video store.

Potash and PR

I'll preface this blog post with the statement that I know don't claim to be an expert on economics or business and I know even less about the potash industry. With that said, I think the Canadian government's prevention of the foreign takeover of Potash Corp. Of Saskatchewan Inc. provides some interesting public relations issues for the government.

Minister of Industry Tony Clement's communications team has a few questions to answer to stakeholders both nationally and internationally. While many key stakeholders in the issue, including the Saskatchewan and Manitoba governments and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, will be happy with the decision. Other stakeholders are likely to be confused or troubled by the decision. They will be looking for answers.

Foreign resource-extraction business will be interested to know if this is the beginning of a new Canadian economic nationalism and how their Canadian investments may or may not be effected. Potential foreign investors will also be interested to know if Canada is still “open for business” when it comes to investment in resource-extraction or if this is the beginning of a Canadian version of “Buy American”. The government must outline clear key messages to these stakeholders to clarify how this decision effects or doesn't effect the investment policy arena.

Canadian corporations will also be interested in knowing if the Canadian government will now be interested in protecting more corporations in the future. Will the government protect an oil company or forestry corporation from hostile, foreign takeover? How will the government judge corporations' value in terms of national interest. This move opens up a huge can of worms that needs to be addressed as quickly as possible.

The minister's communications department will likely be working in overdrive in the next few days to make sure that the government's key messages are delivered quickly and clearly to these stakeholders.

Editing a Perception

Perceptions of reality apply to the way we see every aspect of our lives. We see people, events, and places through our own eyes and develop quick judgments based on how we perceive things.

These perceptions are prevalent everywhere, including the sporting arena. Athletes can be perceived by viewers in a positive or negative manner, which they often can't shake.

Positive:
- Wayne Gretzky is the "Great One"
- Muhammad Ali is the "Greatest"

Negative:
- Bill Buckner is a loser because of one play
- Randy Moss is a cancer in the locker room

What's interesting about these perceptions, are not the perceptions themselves, but how sometimes the result of one event will often change our perception of someone and edit out the past perception. One turning point in an athlete's career is often enough to make us forget about the past, as it often edits the biography of the athlete.

There are a few examples that highlight this. Michael Jordan was a man that built a myth through his play and his drive to win. The perception of Jordan was that he was a winner and that he was one of the greatest, if not the greatest player of all time. This was not always the perception of Jordan. Prior to his breakthrough NBA title with the Bulls in 1990, most people had a different perception of Jordan. He was considered to be one of the best players in the game, but he was considered to be a selfish player. People saw him as a showboat, who put his own stats ahead of his team. He was the opposite of the Lakers, Celtics, and Pistons teams that dominated the NBA in the 80s. These teams were built around a collective of players that worked together cohesively to win championships. Jordan and the Bulls were the complete opposite of this.

Then Jordan matured. The Bulls added coach Phil Jackson and the ultimate sidekick, Scottie Pippen. Jordan began to play a more team-oriented game and the Bulls finally came together for a playoff run in 1991. They defeated the Pistons in the Eastern final, after two failed attempts, and then dispatched the Lakers in the final.

Jordan had forever altered the public's perception of himself. He went on to win six championships, while erasing the perceptions that the public once had of him. It's rare that anything negative is written about his pre-championship career now.

The same is true for John Elway and Peyton Manning. Both had the negative perception early in their careers that they couldn't win the big game. Elway's Denver Broncos lost three Super Bowls in four years, while Manning could never lead the Indianapolis Colts past the New England Patriot juggernaut. Both QB's erased this perception by finally winning the big game later in their careers.

It's interesting how quickly perceptions about athletes are formed and how quickly they can be edited and re-written. Events change these perceptions and old perceptions are quickly edited out of our collective memory.

Pirates are cool? Right?

I was taking a look through some of my files today and came across an article I wrote on assignment for a magazine, but had completely forgotten about. It was going to be a sidebar to go along with an article about Canadian pirates, but it never got published. Even though its not much, I'd still like it to see the light of day. With Halloween coming up, I think now is the time to post it.

Pirate Havens

Pirates, buccaneers, and privateers were the scourge of the high seas during the 15th to 18th centuries, but like everyone else, they needed a home to return to. From Africa to Atlantic Canada to the Caribbean islands, pirate havens took hold in isolate bays and sheltered harbours. Most of these settlements sprung up with the blessing of European colonial governments, as lawless home bases for buccaneers and privateers.

The Caribbean

The islands of the Spanish Main were a hotbed for piracy from the 15th to 18th centuries. Pirate havens sprung up in all corners of the Caribbean Sea, Tortuga being the most infamous. In the 1620s, the original French buccaneers began attacking passing Spanish merchant ships, as they sailed between the island and Hispaniola. Tortuga soon became a buccaneer hotbed, with the assent of the French government. English buccaneers began to arrive soon after, and Tortuga becoming the main base for attacks on Spanish shipping and settlements. After the buccaneers left, the island remained a base of operations for piracy well into the 18th century.

During the mid-17th century, England began to lure buccaneers away from Tortuga by establishing Port Royal, on Jamaica. The English governors of the island encouraged widespread attacks on Spanish interests to protect the newly founded settlement. By 1660, Port Royal was a lawless cesspool of 6,000 people. A preacher described it as “the Sodom of the New World...its population consists of pirates, cut-throats, whores, and some of the vilest persons in the whole world.” Port Royal was devastated by an earthquake in 1692 and never returned to its former glory.

Madagascar

By the late 17th century, many former buccaneers had left the Caribbean and turned to piracy in the Indian Ocean. Madagascar became their base of operation. The island's location allowed for easy access to Indian Ocean shipping routes and Arab shipping in the Red Sea. Pirate settlements sprung up all along the east coast of the the island, as more and more pirates arrived from the Caribbean. This new pirate scourge in the Indian Ocean quickly caught the attention of the English, Dutch, and French navies. Massive campaigns were launched against the pirates and soon, Madagascar's reign as the pirate haven of the Indian Ocean ended, as quickly as it started.

Nova Scotia

Piracy and privateering in the Americas was not just confined to the Caribbean. Privateering was an extremely popular form of employment for sailors of the coastal settlements of Nova Scotia. With Great Britain again at war with France and Spain in the 1790s, privateers, based out of the ports of Halifax and Liverpool, ventured far south to raid French and Spanish shipping in the Caribbean.

The War of 1812 was a boon to Nova Scotia's privateers and their home bases. With Great Britain at war against the United States, privateers marauded down the eastern seaboard. By the end of the war, Nova Scotian privateers were responsible for capturing 250 American vessels. The proceeds from the actions of these privateers ballooned the economies of port settlements up and down the Nova Scotian coast, from Louisbourg to Lunenburg.

Too social politicians?

This past week the subject of political figures and the use of social media has been a topic of conversation in several classes. These conversations stem from a presentation by Jenette Martens, of the Winnipeg Foundation, to the Editing Online and Print Media class. Martens is in charge of social media for the foundation and she lead a discussion of how she uses social media to communicate with stakeholders.

The discussion led to an exercise of researching how the Winnipeg mayoral candidates have made use of social media. Sam Katz and Judy Wasylycia-Leis have made use of Twitter and Facebook in completely different manners. Katz has a presence on both platforms, but it is extremely limited, while Wasylycia-Leis has a much greater presence.

The discussion of Katz and Wasylycia-Leis social media habits continued into our Public Relations class. The question that was posed during this discussion was if it was better if politicians tweeted for themselves or if staffers did it for them. Obviously politicians pay staff to do a lot of communicating for them, so its not surprising that staffers often are the ones that produce social media items. At the same time, politicians making use of social media for themselves provides a more personal, unfiltered viewpoint.

This can backfire though. Case in point, is the current situation involving former Winnipeg mayor Glen Murray. Murray, now an Ontario provincial cabinet minister, posted tweets this week accusing Stephen Harper, Ontario opposition leader Tim Hudak, and Toronto mayor Rob Ford of being bigots. Controversy erupted, as to be expected, and Murray apologized in a written statement.

This is a major issue with politicians, and public figures in general, using social media. They're humans, they make mistakes. They're brain to mouth (or in this case fingers) filter malfunctions on occasion. Maybe they are better served by having their staffers communicate their messages through social media. What do you think?

Newspapers=King Makers?

Flipping through the Globe and Mail's website today, I came across the newspaper's official mayoral endorsement. The Globe has decided to endorse George Smitherman as Toronto's mayor. Yet before it got to the endorsement, it painted a gloom and doom situation for the city's finances and dealings with its employee unions. The editorial paints a bleak picture of the candidacy of both Smitherman and his opponent, Rob Ford. In the end, the Globe decided that Smitherman was the best candidate for the job, despite his flaws.

This editorial got me thinking. How important is a newspaper giving its endorsement to a political candidate? Will this sway large amounts of voters in their decision making process?

In the current Winnipeg mayoral campaign, the Winnipeg Free Press has yet to back anyone. To be honest, I can't remember if it gave an endorsement in the last civic election. The Sun, having an editorial slant to the right of centre, doesn't even have to give an endorsement. It's pretty obvious that Sam Katz is their candidate. I'm not sure if an endorsement by the Free Press would make any difference. Every organization out there has seemed to endorse a candidate. Would a newspaper's endorsement be anymore influential?

According to a a professor at Brown University, these endorsements do hold sway over the public to some extent. Mainly, if a newspaper goes against its traditional editorial ideology and selects a politician from the other side of the spectrum, that endorsement will be more effective. The example given was that the Chicago Tribune's endorsement of Barack Obama, the first Democrat it had endorsed in its 161 year history, was much more effective than the traditionally left leaning New York Time's endorsement of Obama.

Surveys conducted during the 2004 American presidential election found that in so-called "toss up states" the candidate with the most newspaper endorsements won that state 14 out of 15 times. It seems there might be some truth to the idea that newspapers can influence voters with their endorsements.

I'm going to keep my eyes out next week to see if the Free Press makes an endorsement and if they do which candidate they're endorsing.

Editing Key Messages

I've written in this blog, in the past, that editing seems to be the dominant aspect of 2nd-year CreComm for me. This trend continued yesterday in Public Relations class. We spent the afternoon working on developing key messages.

Key Messages are essentially what you want your audience to identify with your company, brand, organization, campaign, etc. They need to convince an audience that there is "something in it for them." Good key messages emphasize the organizations objectives, while explaining why audiences should care. They should be roughly 5-7 seconds in length, when read. This is the perfect length for a broadcast sound byte.

Now here is where editing comes into play. Key messages must be comprised of every day words, with a conversational tone. They must be written and delivered in a positive manner. Because the message needs to be short, every word needs to be hard hitting and make an impact with the audience. Good editing is essential to crafting key messages.

We sat down in class yesterday and attempted to hammer out key messages for a fictitious Red River College initiative. It was tough. People don't natural write in a conversational manner. My first draft came out extremely wooden. Then there were extraneous, filler words. These needed to be removed and sentences needed to be tightened up. After 45 minutes of work, and draft after draft of the key message, we were able to each come up with a fairly succinct, informative message for the college.

This wasn't bad for timing. I had the opportunity to work on some key messages at my summer job. I spent a full afternoon editing and re-editing, until I managed to have concise key messages.

Vigilant editing is essential to the public relations industry. It's always better to get your message across as succinctly as you can, so they can have the greatest impact with your audience.

PR and a Miracle

All 33 miners have been rescued from their ordeal deep within the earth of Chile. A touching and heart-warming story was broadcast around the world for everyone to see. I, like millions of others, sat bolted to my couch watching this unfold. The indomitable spirit of humankind had persevered.

I never thought of the what went into broadcasting the event and how it was used as a PR tool. There's a great article in today's Globe and Mail about the man who orchestrated the broadcast.

Reinaldo Sepulveda, the Chilean presidential media advisor, brought together a large, well-oiled crew that produced a broadcast that was able to fully capture the emotion of the moment. Sepulveda had been organizing the broadcast for almost as long as the miners were trapped. He made use of his expertise that he had gained as a producer of Olympic and World Cup telecasts.

The whole production has been a PR boon for the Chilean government. The success of the rescue is being used by the government as a re-branding of the nation's image. This is the image of a technological nation, that was able to overcome all odds.

The event brought together people from all over the world to watch 33 men safely rise out of the ground. Chile broadcasted a miracle, while bringing itself into the limelight.

The relevance of statistics

Statistics are a complicated part of news. The Canadian Press Stylebook acknowledges this by stating that "Statistics can be pillars of the day's news. They are also the devil's playground, luring reporters into errors of interpretation, assumption and fact." This is especially true in the field of sports reporting. Writers and editors must be able to decide which statistics have the most importance in regards to the story they are writing.

A case in point is the reporting concerning Steven Jyles of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, in the run-up to Monday's game against the B.C. Lions. Jyles, the former starting quarterback, had been benched in favour of rookie Alex Brink. In reporting on the story, writers from the Winnipeg Free Press, Globe and Mail, and reporters from TSN all seemed fixated on Jyles passing efficiency rating. It was reported throughout the media that Jyles' rating was 100.6, second in the CFL.

The question that needs to be answered is what exactly determines the passing efficiency rating. The media threw around this stat liberally, but never explained what formula determined this rating. A statistic is meaningless if readers and viewers do not understand it. Reporters and editors should clarify the meaning of statistics in order to make them more powerful parts of a story.

To clarify, passing efficiency rating is calculated by using a complex formula that takes into account completion percentage, yards per attempted pass, percentage of touchdown passes, and percentage of interceptions. While it isn't necessary to explain this obscure formula completely, an overview of what goes into the formula would enhance readers' comprehension of the statistic.

In the end, passing efficiency rating ranks much lower than the final score, when it comes sports statistics and reader interest.

Antarctica has streets?

This week Google announced that it had added Ireland and Brazil to its list of nations that it covers with its Google Maps Street View application. Brazil is the first South American country to be added to Street View. Twenty-five countries are now available in Street View.

Google had an even bigger announcement as well. It was adding Antarctica to Street View. Viewers can now zoom in on the frozen continent and take a look at ice, mountains, and the occasional penguin. Google can now claim that Street View extends to all seven continents.



On the subject of Street View, here's a site that highlights some of the better views that Google has to offer.

The Ever-Evolving Language

As I've mentioned before in this blog, English is a language that is constantly evolving. New words enter the lexicon on almost a daily basis, whether they be tech terms, slang or just something that people started to use.

The definitive authority on the English language is the Oxford English Dictionary. The dictionary traces its origins back to the late 1850s. Published by the Oxford University Press, the OED is comprised of over 300,000 main entries;157,000 bold-type combinations and derivatives; 169,000 italicized-bold phrases and combinations; 616,500 word-forms in total, including 137,000 pronunciations; 249,300 etymologies; 577,000 cross-references; and 2,412,400 usage quotations. That is a lot of words.

Each year the OED adds new words and phrases to the dictionary. 2009 saw words like Generation Y, superbug, and blogosphere added to the dictionary. These terms have been added to our language through popular culture, so the OED has added them to the dictionary. My favorite addition to the dictionary in 2009 is turducken. A turducken is a turkey, stuffed with duck, which is in turn stuffed with a chicken.

2010 saw the additions of vuvuzela, hashtag, and bromance. When bromance is officially recognized, you know that English has truly evolved.

Pass it Forward 2010 Reviewed

This year I've had the great honour of sitting on the board of directors of Pass It Forward, a charitable organization that helps kids who cannot afford hockey equipment the chance to take part in Canada's national past time. Pass It Forward, along with Perth's Drycleaners, collects used hockey equipment and gives it to kids who want to play the game, but whose parents can't afford the high price of hockey equipment. Hockey Manitoba, the sport's governing body in the province, takes the equipment and hands it out to participants in their youth hockey programs.

Pass it Forward was started last year by Kalen Qually, a Red River College Creative Communications student. Originally it began as his Independent Professional Project, but after the success the program enjoyed in its first year, he decided to continue forward this year.

Participating in the organization of the equipment drive has made me appreciate how much the implementation of the four principles of persuasion has made the program a success. The action, identification, familiar and trust, and clarity principles have all been put to good use.

For the action principle, the program's partnership with Perth's makes it easy to donate equipment. Perth's has 21 locations around Winnipeg, so it was very convenient for donations to be dropped off by people from all over the city.

As far as the identification principle goes, Pass it Forward answered the question, "What's in it for me?" by having a draw for autographed Jonathan Toews and Mike Richards Team Canada jersies. The winners were announced live on program partner Curve 94.3's morning show.

This also applied to the principle of familiarity and trust. Jonathan Toews and Mike Richards are both well known, local hockey stars and they both have a lot of name power in Winnipeg. Working with Perth's, Curve, and Hockey Manitoba has also helped to bring recognition to the program and boost donations.

Finally, the clarity principle was achieved through Pass it Forward's partnership with Curve. In the leadup to and during the equipment drive, Curve aired PSAs and frequently mentioned the program, it's goals, and how people could get involved. This helped get Pass it Forward's message out to a large audience in a clear and concise manner.

Pass it Forward 2010 was a huge success on many fronts. The most important being that thanks to the donations of Winnipeggers, lots of kids who may not of had the chance to play hockey now have been given that opportunity.

Editing is the life of a CreCommer

Coming into the second year of CreComm, I had no clue that editing would be the theme of my year. It definitely has so far. I've got courses in Editing Print and Online Media, Image Editing, and video editing. It's quickly become clear that the principles of editing the written word carry over to editing video.

When we edit a news article, we read for understanding, for organization and focus, for grammar,spelling, punctuation and style, for language and sentence structure, and to proofread. Several of these techniques are useful for editing video as well.

When editing an article we read it first for understanding. Does the story make sense? The same concept applies to video editing. When we're in the editing booth, a story needs to be formed through the editing of clips.

Organization and focus is essential for both the written word and for video. Are the facts in the right order to tell the story? Is the focus placed on the right information to make it compelling? Both writing and video need organization and focus.

Finally proofreading is as essential to video editing as it is to editing writing. It's just not reading. It's picking up all the tiny errors in the editing process and cleaning them up, just like proofreading is catching all the small errors in writing. This process is essential for a clean, final product.

I'm slowly getting used to editing consuming my life, but I'm glad there are consistencies between the different media.

Canada, the UN Security Council and PR

Currently there are two temporary seats up for grabs (in the "Western Europe and Others" region) on the United Nations Security Council. Canada, Germany, and Portugal are the three countries in the running for the two positions. All three countries have been pulling out all the stops in order to grab one of these influential spots, among the eight other non-permanent members. The United States, the UK, France, China, and Russia are the permanent members of the Security Council.

What does this have to do with PR, you might ask. The answer is everything. Canada, along with its competitors is spreading the public relations on thickly this week in New York. Stephen Harper addressed the UN General Assembly yesterday, while cabinet ministers Lawrence Cannon, Bev Oda, Jim Prentice, and Peter Kent are also in New York communicating the positives of Canada having a seat at the Security Council.

Germany is pretty much a lock to take one of the seats. They are the third largest contributor to the UN and provide vast quantities of economic aid around the world. So it comes down to Canada and Portugal for the remaining seat.

This is where public relations comes into play and more specifically the principles of persuasion. The principle of familiarity and trust will play a vital role in who gets the seat. Both Canada and Portugal are working this method of communication.

For Canada, Harper and his ministers are pushing the wide international role that Canada plays. Key to this is its membership in virtually every important international political organization, from NATO to APEC to the Commonwealth to La Francophonie. Canada's role in the reconstruction of Haiti is also being played up. The main goal of this communications strategy is to influence voting nations that Canada is a well known and trusted player on the international stage. It's asking these nations to remember what Canada has done in the past and the good it has brought to the world.

Portugal is using the same communications principle, but on a smaller scale. It has the support of Portuguese speaking countries like Brazil and other former colonies in Africa and Asia. This is again an example of the principle of familiarity and trust.

The vote on the two seats will occur on October 12, when all 192 member states of the UN vote. In the end, good PR and more specifically the principle of familiarity and trust will likely be the deciding factor.

Yogi Berrisms

The English language is based on a lot of rules and a defined structure, but there are almost as many exceptions to rules, as there are rules. This is especially true when it comes to spoken English.

When we're speaking we often don't say things like we would write them. We take short cuts, we omit words, we use slang. Spoken English is much more casual than the written word.

This casualness leads to the use of malapropisms. Malapropisms are when a word is substituted in for another making the phrase meaningless, but often providing comedy. They have been a staple of comedy since Shakespearean times.

Some people take the use of malapropisms to a new frontier. The most famous is New York Yankee Hall of Famer, Yogi Berra. Berra played during the Yankees' glory years of the 50s and 60s. He was a reporter's dream. Berra would throw around unintentional malapropisms whenever he was interviewed. He went further beyond malapropisms and twisted English right around. He was a reporter's dream, but a grammatical nightmare. Here are a few examples:

"It ain't over til it's over."
"It's deja vu all over again."
"90% of the game is half mental."
"He can run anytime he wants. I'm giving him the red light."

English is a pretty strange language and people tend to twist it into knots. Fifty years after Berra's prime his sayings are still legendary.

Old George, Buffalo Bones and Antiques

A massive mound of buffalo bones, a ramshackle pioneer village, an old country manor filled to the brim with potential valuable antiques. This is what greeted us when we pulled into Old Geo's Antiques in Whitewood, Saskatchewan last weekend.

Let me give you a little back story first on how we ended up at Old Geo's. My friend owns a burger stand outside of Winnipeg and was in need of a new ice cream machine. He managed to find one on Kijiji, but the seller was in Saskatoon. He agreed to drive to Regina to make it easier. So, my buddy called me up and said, "Hey, I've got to go to Regina. You want to go? We'll have a few drinks. (note: a few drinks was an underestimation)"

We headed off to Regina, picked up the machine, had a few drinks, and woke up the next morning ready to head back to Winnipeg. We got about 175 kilometres east of Regina, when we spotted a towering sign on the north side of the Trans-Canada. It read, "Old Geo's Antiques. Magnificent Period Home. 1895."

Something clicked in my friend's mind and he remembered that his parents had stopped in on a trip home from Calgary and said that the house was interesting and kind of creepy, but worth a stop. So we hung a u-turn and pulled into the house's driveway.

Old Geo's is one of the weirder roadside attractions I have ever seen, but it's really interesting. The house was built in 1895, by immigrants from France, and it's huge. It has seventeen bedrooms and seven staircases. Behind the house, the owner had constructed a pioneer village out of old farm houses, graineries, and scrap wood. To the side of the house is a massive pile of buffalo bones. Needless to say we were a little wary ringing the doorbell.

The owner of Old Geo's is George Chopping, a well-known antiques collector. Old George is a little bit of an eccentric, but a really friendly guy. He took us for a tour of his pioneer village. He's meticulously constructed an authentic pioneer village, filling each building with antiques and period furniture. He's been at it for almost twenty-five years and he's continuously adding on every year. His pride is his saloon. I wish I had a camera (I was a bad journalist) so I could take a picture of his bar. He hand-crafted a bar and it looks like it would be right in place in a high-end saloon, circa 1890.

Old George Chopping. Photo Credit: Sean Murphy

George's house is a sight to be seen as well. It is jam-packed, wall to wall with antiques. To say that George is a little bit of a hoarder would be an understatement. George gave us a tour of his place and gave us the history of some of his more prized antiques. He has a massive collection of glass bottles, all from early Western Canada. I don't know much about antiques, but I would assume his collection is worth a lot of money.

George got into collecting antiques when he was still in his teens. "When I was 19, I gave up smoking and drinking and replaced them with collecting," he said. " I guess one addiction replaced another."

The house is full of old household knick-knacks, pioneer clothing, oil lamps, and carvings. George has put some serious effort into his collection. He's received a fair bit of media attention as well, having been profiled by the Saskatchewan Television Network and, surprisingly, the Japanese version of Cosmopolitan magazine.

All in all, the stop at Old Geo's Antiques was worth the time spent. It's an interesting, if not weird roadside attraction. If you're ever driving through eastern Saskatchewan, stop in and see Old George.

ESL, the intricacies of english, and editing

What is a gerund? How do you properly use the past participle? When do you use the active voice and when do you use the passive voice? These were questions that I was asking my students even though I had just learned the answers the day before.

English is an extremely hard language to learn. Before one can even learn how to put a sentence together, he or she must learn the parts of speech like nouns, verbs, conjunctions, prepositions, etc., etc. Then there are the silent letters or why certain is spelled with a "c" and not an "s". Oh, and don't forget the rules that apply to verbs and the million exceptions to these rules.

Learning english as a second language is not an easy process. It's not like languages, like French, where there are concrete verb rules and feminine and masculine forms of words. English is all over the place. It's a free-flowing language that is evolving every year. There is also an ever growing demand for english language instruction all over the world. It's estimated that 750 million people speak english as a first or second language.

I taught ESL to students in Taiwan for roughly a year and a half. I taught students from kindergarten all the way up to adult business students. They all shared a common will to attempt to master a language that did not share an characteristics with their own and whose wild irregularities caused frustration on a daily basis. I'm amazed at what it takes to learn english as a second language.

Teaching ESL helped me to understand english better as well. Growing up, grammar wasn't emphasized in education. Because we begin speaking english at home when we are young, the nuances and rules come natural to us, but we don't know why we speak like this or the terminology behind our language. Teaching ESL gave me a strong education in grammar, sentence structure, and the written language in general.

What does this have to do with editing? The answer is everything. Strong editors need to be well versed in the building blocks of the english language. Structure and grammar are essential aspects of what goes into editing. In order to be better editors, a great knowledge of the inner workings of the english language is needed. I understand why Chris Petty drilled grammar rules into are head for half a semester.

To answer the opening question, a gerund is when a "ing" verb is used as a noun, like swimming.

Nike, the iPhone, and not being lazy

The first day of school and the beginning of a new year have one thing in common: lots of people making the resolution to hit the gym and get into shape. I am one of those people, but usually my new found enthusiasm lasts for about a month before I fall back into my slacker ways. After a summer that was filled with a little too much beer and red meat, I'm trying to motivate myself to get into shape.

The ever growing world of apps has expanded into the field of getting into shape. Nike is one of the leaders at producing apps to encourage people to work out. The Nike+ GPS app tracks your daily jogs. NikeWomen Training Club builds a fitness program for you on your smart phone, while Nike Football+ Master Control is designed to help soccer players train using a training regime developed by the coaches and trainers at the legendary Barcelona FC.

The app that interested me the most was the Nike Boom app. This app allows you to sync playlists from your iPhone with a workout routine. You select the sport that you're training for, the amount of time you plan on working out, and the type of workout you are doing. The app bases the music select on the intensity of the workout. Sports figures, tailored to the sport that you selected, chime in throughout your workout to provide tips and encouragement. Lebron James tells you how to best train for basketball, while Mike Krzyzewski, the legendary Duke University basketball coach provides general training tips.

Nike provides this app through the iTunes App Store free of charge. The question is why? The program doesn't directly sell Nike shoes or clothes. They're not making money from the app. The answer is that it provides good PR for Nike and spreads its brand recognition into the new frontier of apps. People who workout and train for sports are Nike's prime target audience, so providing a workout app is a logical move. Nike is using the four principles of persuasion by providing this app.

Action

Nike is making it easier and more streamlined for people to use their smart phones while working out. Instead of having to open a playlist in the music section of the phone and then open a workout plan app, Nike has combined the two into one easy to use app. Using the app also provides motivation for people to hit the gym, where they might use Nike products.

Identification

The identification principle is all about "what's in it for me". Nike Boom gives users an easy way to program their workout into their smart phone. They don't need to create a workout playlist, as the app does that for them. It also provides relevant training tips for the workout that the user is taking part in. It just makes the process easier and that answers the "what's in it for me" question.

Familiarity and Trust

Nike Boom utilizes the familiarity and trust persuasion principle extremely effectively. The Nike brand and the "Swoosh" logo are internationally recognized. There is a huge familiarity with Nike among the target audience for this app. If this app had been released as a generic workout app, without the Nike brand attached, it likely would not be that popular. The inclusion of Lebron James and Mike Krzyzewski, and other sports figures, gives some legitimacy to the tips and encouragement required. These are two world class sports figures who have well recognized brands and are renowned for their knowledge in the basketball world. Lebron is one of the most popular basketball players in the world, while Krzyzewski has coached Duke to four national championships and Team U.S.A. to an Olympic gold medal.

Clarity

The Nike Boom app is easy to use and easy to understand. It has a clean interface and makes use of the Nike logo and images of people like Lebron and Krzyzewski. A bold stop watch is in the top corner, counting down the workout time. It appears that it is extremely easy to input your workout information into the app. It looks like Nike has done a lot to make this app user friendly.

At the end of the day, this app is nothing but a PR and advertising tool for Nike. But that's ok. It provides a valuable tool for people who want to workout, while spreading Nike's brand to a new technological area.

I might have to grab it. Maybe it will make my workout period last more than a month for a change.

Wilfred or Wilfrid

On the eve of the beginning of the new school year, I received an email from an instructor (who may or may not specialize in online and print media editing) mentioning that the blog I was writing for the Winnipeg Free Press had lots of good writing and photos, but that I should check the spelling of our eighth prime minister. Four people reading over the blog (including myself) had overlooked the fact that Sir Laurier spelled his name "Wilfrid" not "Wilfred".

That was how my second year of CreComm was kicked off. It was an omen for the upcoming year and the utter importance of editing in any aspect of the communications business. Whether you're writing stories for a local newspaper, creating news releases for a not-for-profit organization or coming up with witty copy for a brand new advertising campaign, thorough editing is essential.

That's where the Editing Print and Online Media course comes into play. A major component of the CreComm program is writing and often "fatal errors", that could easily have been removed through the process of editing, lead to failed assignments. Had my blog post been an assignment for school, I would have been deducted 50 per cent and received a dreaded "auto-fail". Mistakes like this could easily be weeded out through the process of copy editing, which this course seeks to improve our skills in.

The editing process is much more than simple spelling correction though. Proper and thorough editing will streamline writing by smoothing out the style and formatting of the piece, while chopping out filler words. In a business that prides itself on the efficiency of writing, this process will not only make the writer's job easier, but it will communicate the essential message of the piece to audience with greater clarity.

I'll be the first to admit that sometimes my editing process is a little bit lax, a habit that was reinforced by year after year of professors paying no attention to the grammar of my writing, but last year was a wake up call and I'm working at stepping up my game. Editing Print and Online Media will allow me to improve on my skills. Now I just need to make sure I look in my Caps and Spelling before I use the names of any of our prime ministers.

Back Again

Life off the Couch is back after an extended hiatus. CreComm is back in session, so I've decided to resurrect this blog.

I had the opportunity to spend the summer travelling around Manitoba and blogging about it for the Winnipeg Free Press. I was able to see parts of the province that I had never gone to before, like Lynn Lake, Thompson, Manigotagan, and the Duck Mountains. Seeing the raw beauty that this province has to offer gave me a new perspective on what living in this province is all about and what it means to be a Manitoban.

This experience of writing a travel blog has been educational and I'm going to continue on with the travel theme of Life off the Couch. I'll be writing about Manitoba travel, to supplement the Free Press blog, while taking a look at places around the world that are interesting, exotic, or just plain weird. The world is huge and is open for exploration.

This blog is also part of the CreComm program at Red River College, so there will be a few posts mixed in that deal with public relations and editing in the media.

Stay tuned next week for snapshot of the history of Lockport, a town that just celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Chi-Town Muzak

CreComm has finally come to an end. It's kind of a weird feeling. After months and months of pulling out may hair from stressing out, it kind of feels like CreComm went out with a little bit of a whimper. I kind of mentally checked out a little earlier than I probably should of.

But first year is behind me now, so it's time to get ready for the CreComm Ad and PR majors trip to Chicago. The Windy City's always been on my list of American cities to visit. The history and style of the city has always appealed to me. It's considered America's Second City for a reason.

On the Chicago tip, my PR and Ad instructor extraordinaire, Kenton Larsen, has been blogging about different Chicago related topics for weeks now. His post about Chicago related songs inspired me to think about some of my favourite Chicago musicians. Chicago ranks right up there with New York and New Orleans as far as historical music hotbeds go. It's always been a blues and jazz mecca and has produced influencial rock, punk, and hip hop. Here are some of my favourite Chicago musicians.

Common



Screeching Weasel



Rise Against



Smashing Pumpkins



88 Fingers Louie



Kanye West

Volcano isn't just hitting airlines in the pocket books

When I travel, I usually blow through money like it's going out of style. Food and booze tend to empty out my wallet very quickly. Usually when I'm waiting at the airport, for a flight home, my bank account is sitting pretty close to empty.

That's why I can't imagine what people stranded in Europe, Asia, and Australia are going through right now. They're being forced to wait out a cloud of volcanic ash, each day eating more and more into their savings.

The airlines hit hard by this delay, don't seem to concerned with helping out their stranded passengers. Here's a story from the Associated Press, examining the tribulations of being stuck in transit.

Detroit: The Mogadishu of the Great Lakes

This last week was a turbulent time in a lot of far flung areas of the globe (like every week). The government was toppled in Kyrgyzstan, with Russia seemingly up to some Cold War era manipulation. Dozens of protesters in Bangkok were killed, as Thailand's fissure between the urban and rural population expanded into violence. In Sudan, thousands fled south across the border into Uganda, fearing election time violence.

The world is a dangerous place. Beyond Afghanistan and Iraq, civil wars continue to rage across Africa and political unrest burns in many Asian countries. In cities throughout the world, dodging bullets and bomb blasts is a part of daily life.

Last week CNN released a list of what they consider to be the world's most dangerous cities. Strife-torn urban areas like Kinshasa, Baghdad, Karachi, and Beirut are on the list to no one's surprise. The never ending Mexican drug war propelled border city, Juarez on to the list, while Cape Town's reputation as one of the world's murder capitals places it high on CNN's list.

The big surprise of the CNN's list is the inclusion of Detroit and New Orleans on the list. Now don't get me wrong, crime is definitely rampant in both cities, as New Orleans continues to recover from Katrina and Detroit from the collapse of the automotive industry, but it's tough to compare these two cities with places like Kinshasa and Baghdad, where civil wars rage through the streets.

It's a strange call by CNN to include these two American cities on the list, while leaving places like Mogadishu, Freetown, and even Rio de Janiero, where gang-related violence engulfs sections of the city. CNN makes the claim that they compiled their list using data from numerous respectable sources, but at face value it looks like the news network was looking for a controversial hook to draw in readers and viewers. If they didn't include American cities, there's always the potential for readers to pass over they story, with the "it's happening somewhere else" attitude. They definitely succeeded, as Detroit and New Orleans' inclusion has stirred up some controversy.

Here's a link to CNN's report: The world's most dangerous cities?

Journey to the Nub Part 3

I'll close up my chronicle of our journey to the Northwest Angle with the reason we travelled out there. Here's the article I wrote for my journalism class.


Flag Island Resort sits at the end of a long ice road that winds across the frozen Lake of the Woods. This ice road begins at the end of a long road that cuts through pristine, untouched wilderness. Flag Island feels like the edge of the world. That feeling is what brings droves of fishermen there every year.

“It's part of the experience, travelling down that wilderness road,” said Dan Schmidt, who has managed the 74 year old resort for the last 35 years. “It feels like you're going to no man's land.”

Flag Island sits 15 minutes by car off the shore of the Northwest Angle, the only part of the contiguous United States of America above the 49th parallel. The Angle, as the locals refer to it, owes its existence to American and British diplomats not being able to read a map properly. When they set the border between the U.S. and what would become Canada in 1783, they misread the map of the Lake of the Woods region. Because of this error, the fishing resort community of 8o permanent residents is separated from its home state, Minnesota, by Lake of the Woods and a heavily forested chunk of Manitoba.

Over 1,000 tourists visit the Northwest Angle every year to experience this secluded, isolated peninsula of land and the islands that surround it. In the winter they come from all over the American Midwest to fish for the highly prized and very savoury walleye. Most resorts set fishermen up in a tin walled, cramped ice house out on the lake. Flag Island Resort has a different philosophy when it comes to ice fishing.

“We don't emphasize ice houses. In an ice house you spend hours on end staring at a tin wall,” Schmidt said, as he sat in the living room of his house on the island. “We're in the middle of some beautiful wilderness, so why put people into a cramped shack.”

Flag Island Resort offers a guided ice fishing service that sets guests up right out on the ice, so they can fish surrounded by Lake of the Woods' legendary scenery. Deer, moose, fox, and timber wolf sightings are common and that helps to bring people back to the resort year after year.

The natural beauty of the Northwest Angle has drawn Duluth, Minnesota's Mark Bergstedt to Flag Island every winter since 1978. For the last ten years, he has brought his daughter, Christina, up for a father-daughter ice fishing weekend.

“If you hunt or fish or just vacation, this is a great spot,” explained Bergstedt, as he enjoyed a beer in the resort's rustic, wood-panelled main lodge. “Look around you. It's pure unspoiled wilderness. What more could you ask for.”

Visit www.lakeofthewoodsresorts.com to learn more about the secluded Northwest Angle. To plan your next fishing getaway, visit www.flagislandresort.com.

Journey to the Nub Part 2

Driving east down the Trans Canada, traffic quickly emerged and disappeared through the thick pea soup fog that had enveloped south-eastern Manitoba. The day was not looking promising on the weather front. One of the main reasons we were venturing out to the Northwest Angle was to take photographs for a travel advertisement. The fog was going to put a major monkey wrench in our plans to take some blue-skied photos for our ads.

Luck was on our side that day though, as the fog began to lift as we made the hard left off the paved Trans Canada onto the chunky, ungraded gravel road to the Angle. As we made our way down the sparsely travelled rut-filled back road, the fog began to dissipate and the sun began to radiate downward onto the pristine wilderness of the Northwest Angle Provincial Forest.

After an hour and a half of witty banter, fart jokes, and Sean experiencing the joys of beef jerky for the first time, we came across the Canada-U.S. border. It was a surreal experience. In an age where the United States are cracking down hard on travel across the world's longest undefended border, the border crossing here stands as the anti-thesis to the near militarization of border crossings from the east coast to the west coast. All that marks the border here are a couple signs welcoming you to Minnesota and Manitoba, respectively, and a lone obelisk-shaped marker that stands in a clearing that runs the length of the border. There was not a single person in sight, let alone an overzealous border patrol officer.

The border crossing at the Northwest Angle is based on the honour system. A few kilometres in from the border lies Jim's Corner. That's literally all it is; a corner, where two roads intersect. All there is at this lonely intersection is a corrugated metal shack. This is border control. We entered the shack and picked up the video phone, pressing the button labeled United States. After a brisk, all business conversation with an American border officer in Warroad, we were cleared to be in the United States. No passports required, no hassles, no games of twenty questions.



We had an appointment setup to visit a lodge owner for a quick interview. Going off the vague directions that the man had given Eman, we drove aimlessly around for awhile through what appeared to be a ghost town. There was not a soul in sight. All the cottages were empty and no one was on the road. We finally arrived at the lodge office to find a sign directing us to the owners house. After getting lost again for a bit, we arrived at the house to find another sign telling visitors to check in at a different house. We ventured off to find this house, but quickly got lost and then finally gave up on the quest.

Instead we ventured off in search of the closest bar. It had become obvious that if we wanted answers about the Angle, we would likely find them at the town's bar. After a few dead ends, we arrived at Young's Bay and Jerry's Bar. The bar sits right on the edge of Lake of the Woods and is the hub off the Angle's community. Jerry's is a quaint, small town watering hole. Miniature American flags rest on every table, the walls are paneled with lacquered pine planks, and ancient Schlitz beer cans line the shelves above the bar.



Bonnie Edin was tending the bar when we arrived. The former Minneapolis resident had been drawn to this remote outpost three years earlier because of her love for the outdoors and the "raw beauty of nature." She quickly became our source for everything we needed to know about the Angle and who we should talk to if we wanted to find out more. She pointed us in the direction of the ice road that led out on to the frozen surface of Lake of the Woods, giving us the humourous advice that everyone in the Angle "drives with their seat belts off and their windows rolled down, just in case."

With her words of wisdom in mind, we drove my car out on to the lake. We must have looked so out of place. In a land of 1/2 ton trucks and snowmobiles, we were cruising around the lake in a tiny Mazda 3 sedan. We had a little bit of trouble wrapping our minds around the fact that we were driving on a lake. I had driven on the frozen Red River a few times when I was in high school; tearing it up near Lockport, pulling doughnuts and fishtails. This was completely different. We were soon in the middle of a wide channel between islands, a few kilometres off the shore. If the ice cracked, we would be royally screwed.



The ice roads around the Northwest Angle and its surrounding islands are the life blood of the community. With over ten fishing lodges off the mainland, guests and supplies are trucked across the ice from the mainland on a daily basis. Hundreds of kilometres of roads traverse the ice in the area, with the main road extending across the frozen lake north to Kenora. Hundreds of kilometres of groomed snowmobile trails criss cross these ice roads. Sleds seem to be the preferred form of transportation in the angle.



We sped off further down the ice road, further away from the relative safety of the shore. We were searching for snowmobilers and ice fishers, so we could get an idea what brings them to this remote corner of Lake of the Woods. Out on the wide open lake, surrounded by the rugged granite cliffs of Shield Country, we were beginning to understand why.

The Nub part 3, coming soon.

Screenplay writing for dummies (like me)

This post is a break away from the travel theme of this blog. We're currently working on screenplays for Creative Writing class and we're required to write a blog about the art of writing a screenplay.

Unfortunately I'm a little late on getting this done, due to a case of the flu that would put me in great company with the characters of Outbreak. Or Dreamcatcher (minus the aliens). So here we go, lets answer the question of how a screen play is structured.

Screenplays are often defined by structure. There are four commonly used structures when writing a screenplay. The three act structure, the Hero's Journey, Field's Paradigm, and the sequence approach.

The three act structure is the most common approach to writing screenplay. The first act is the setup, the second is the conflict, and the third is the resolution. It's the most basic form of writing and most films fit into this structure.

The Hero's Journey is based off of Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces. He basically said that going back to ancient mythology, epic sagas have always had the same structure. There are five stages in this structure: a call to adventure, a road of trials, achieving the goal, a return to the ordinary world, and the application of the goal. The Lord of the Rings trilogy fits into this structure. Come to think about it, most sci-fi of fantasy films are written with with this structure in mind.

Field's paradigm introduced the concept of plot points into screenplay writing. Plot points help to move the film along by introducing conflict in the middle of the acts of the film.

The sequence approach divides the three acts of a film into eight shorter sequences. The first act is made up of two sequences, the second is made up of four, and the third is made up of two more.

There you are; a short introduction to the structures used to write a screenplay. Hopefully I can use one of them to write a half decent one myself.

Life off the Couch #1 - Journey to the Nub Part 1.

So here we go with a new blog. I've always been fascinated with the world and travel. Over the years I've been fortunate enough to travel throughout Canada and three other continents. I've been as far north as Ellesmere Island, 500 km from the North Pole, and as far south as New Zealand. I've been as far west as Vancouver Island and as far east as Taiwan. The experiences I've had traveling have shaped who I am today.

After spending almost four years traveling after I finishing university, I came back home to get settled down and go back to school. It's been tough though. I constantly get the urge to just pack my bags and catch the first plane out here to some exotic locale. Then my girlfriend brings me back down to earth and reminds me that I'm a broke student.

This new blog will be focused on travel. Tips, stories, news, and photos are things that I'm thinking of throwing up here over the course of the next few months.

I'll kick it off with an entry about travelling to a less than exotic, but still mysterious, locale.

Friday marked the 1st year CreComm Manitoba Travel Assignment. Twenty groups of students fanned out across Manitoba in search of stories and to basically harass people. Just kidding about the harassing.

I teamed up with my fellow Section Oners, Steve Dreger, Eman Agpalza, and Sean Angus. We decided that Manitoba wasn't big enough for us and that we needed to flip the script. We took out a map and our eyes were drawn to the extreme southeast corner of the province. Surrounded by the white background of Manitoba and the yellow of Ontario, there was this little piece of orange that was just hanging out in space on the far western shores of Lake of the Woods. On closer inspection, this was the Northwest Angle of Minnesota, a.k.a. the Nub.

We had all heard of this mythical place before, but none of us had ever journeyed down there before. It was quickly decided that we were going to head down to this geographical anomaly.



The Northwest Angle is the only part of the contiguous United States that is north of the 49th parallel. It exists solely due to 18th century geographers not being able to map the region properly. When the American Revolutionary War was concluded with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, British and American diplomats agreed that the border between the U.S. and what would eventually become Canada would run right through Lake of the Woods, until it reached the Mississippi River. The only problem was the source of the Mississippi was several hundred kilometres to the southeast of the lake. Eventually the border was set at the 49th parallel and the Northwest Angle remained as the property of the U.S.

That left the Angle existing all by itself separated from the rest of the United States by two border crossings and about seventy kilometres. The eighty permanent residents of the Angle are mostly all employed in the local fishing lodge industry, the life blood of the community. Winter or summer, fishermen travel from all over the American Midwest to hit the lake in search of the area's legendary walleye, northern pike, and musky.

With this legendary fishing in mind, we set out east along the Trans Canada Highway in search of the mysterious Nub.

Part two coming soon...

The end of an era (a very short one)

This blog has been quite a meandering piece of writing over the last six months. It started off being focused on Canadian sports and quickly lost its way. I lost my focus and my writing covered everything from sports, to travel, to history.

It's time to lay Life on a Couch to rest today. Next week: new blog, new theme, new name.

I'll end Life on a Couch, with a video for all the Section One's out there. (Haha)

The Future of the Free Press

Yesterday during our weekly seminar, John White, the deputy online editor of the Winnipeg Free Press, came down to discuss the paper's plans and ideas to bring itself into the modern new media reality. The discussion was both encouraging and discouraging. It was encouraging in the fact that it seems that the Free Press is interested in developing social media vehicles and making better use of the online medium. But it was also discouraging because the talk higlighted how set in their ways "old school" newspaper people are. It seems like it's going to be a slow and ardous process to develop these new vehicles.

After the seminar we had a very spirited discussion in PR class about journalism (?!) and the future of the Free Press. Kenton Larsen talked about an idea he was formulating, involving CreComm students and neighbourhood reporting. I think this is where the future of the Free Press is; hyper-localism. International and national news can be found much quicker through numerous other outlets. A shift to hyper-local journalism (web based) will encourage effective two-way communication between the media (the Free Press) and its readership. It will facilitate communication and likely engage a younger audience, that is more community oriented.

What it comes down to, is the Free Press needs to re-evaluate its target audience and the type of news and issues that it covers, if it wants to remain a viable business.

Step one is to get rid of On7.

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride

Yesterday the Winnipeg Blue Bombers hired Paul LaPolice as their new head coach. Personally, I like the hire of the former Saskatchewan Roughriders offensive co-ordinater. He coached a well-oiled offensive machine in Saskatchewan and was the offensive co-ordinater for the Bombers when Khari Jones and Milt Stegall were lighting it up in the early 2000s.

The question is, what is up with Greg Marshall? The current Hamilton TiCats defensive co-ordinator and former Bomber coach has now finished runner-up for the Bombers head coaching job on three occasions. He lost out to Doug Berry in 2006 and to Mike Kelly last year.

From media reports, it seems that Marshall is well-respected around the CFL for his defensive schemes and his coaching ability and has been labelled a "head coach in waiting" for several years. He's highly respected by the Bomber Board of Directors and was considered the favourite for the job this time around. He must really not interview well or something like that.

Maybe he'll get the Toronto head coaching job, with a team so disfunctional, they make the Bombers look like a well-run organization.

Former MJHLer starring in NCAA

Getting an education, while having the opportunity to play the game you love. It's a dream that many hockey players share. Jordan Cyr is living this dream. The former Selkirk Steelers star is currently playing in the NCAA, with the Holy Cross Crusaders. He's had an injury plagued season, but still leads the Crusaders with 16 points in 17 games.

Here's a Q and A with Jordan Cyr that was intended for the MJHL website, but didn't make the cut.

How did you end up in the MJHL?

I was recruited out of Prep School by Selkirk’s GM, Ken Petrash. He saw me play out east, and told me that he thought Selkirk was a perfect place for me to start my junior career. Coincidentally, my parents were planning on moving back to Winnipeg, from our home just north of Toronto. I agreed to visit with Ken in Selkirk, and was very impressed with what I saw. Being able to live at home and play in such a great organization was en easy decision.

What is your best memory of your year in the MJHL?

That’s an easy one. We went down 3 games to none in the Addison Division final. We clawed our way back to win 3 straight, and force a game seven in Selkirk. The stands were jam packed when we got to the rink an hour and a half before warm up. The atmosphere was unbelievable. We ended up winning the game, beating a very strong Winnipeg South Blues team.

How did the MJHL prepare you for college hockey?

I learned a lot about positional play, play away from the puck, and defensive responsibility. I also learned what it meant to really devote yourself to the game. I had never played such a long season, and spent so much time on the road. My time in the MJHL taught me just how hard it is, and how much you have to work, to succeed at the next level.

What's life like playing college hockey?

It’s amazing. It’s unbelievably busy, and a lot of work, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I get to spend just about every minute with my teammates, who are my best friends. Having the opportunity to represent your school and to play against some of the best teams in the country each weekend is pretty special.

What are your goals for the rest of the season?

I am coming back to the lineup from an injury in the new year, and want to do everything I can to help my team win. We have a great group of guys, and have our goals set pretty high. We are looking to win home ice advantage in the playoffs, win our league, and go to the NCAA tournament. We are hosting an NCAA regional this year, and that’s where we want to be playing.

What are your plans for after college? Is hockey part of them?

Hockey is a big part of my plans after college. I am excited at the opportunity to turn pro, and play either in North America, or in Europe. Just the way the MJHL prepared me for college, I think Holy Cross has prepared me for a professional career.